Climate change to worsen food security, UN talks told

Surging prices for staple foods in 2008 and 2010 may be just a foretaste of the future as the impacts of climate change and population growth combine, a report issued at the UN talks in Cancun said Wednesday.Between 2010 and 2050, the price of corn, also called maize, could rise by 42-131 percent, that of rice by 11-78 percent, and that of wheat by 17-67 percent, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said.

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Carnegie Endowment submits:The recent spike in wheat prices has reaffirmed the vulnerability of the international food market to minor shocks in supply. A repeat of the 2007–2008 food-price crisis is unlikely at the moment, given the relatively high levels of global grain stocks and relatively low price of oil.